


Forget Me Not

by superlc529



Category: Forever (TV)
Genre: Amnesia, Best Friends, F/M, Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-15
Updated: 2015-02-18
Packaged: 2018-03-13 03:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3366185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/superlc529/pseuds/superlc529
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Henry gets into an accident and develops amnesia. With no memories of his life, what sort of things might come to light?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: I do not own Forever. This idea was nagging and nagging at me, begging to be written. So here I am writing it. I hope you guys enjoy. :)

Forget Me Not

Footsteps pounded on the pavement in pursuit of a killer. The suspect in question was a good twenty feet in front of the two people hot on the trail. The closest was Doctor Henry Morgan and not far behind him was his partner Detective Jo Martinez.

“Henry!” Jo called after the medical examiner, “Henry! Stop! I got him!”

Henry didn’t seem to hear her. He was gaining on their suspect and tackled him to the ground. Jo finally caught up to them. She gave her partner a slight glare before she took over and started to handcuff the man and read him his rights.

She turned to Henry, “I’ll meet you back at the car, Henry. I’m gonna call this in.”

“Yes,” Henry breathed. He was still slightly out of breath from running. Henry started off to cross the street in the direction of Jo’s car. Letting the handcuffed man up, they followed Henry as Jo dialed Hanson to tell him they apprehended their guy.

The next moment came in a flash: a blaring horn and screeching of tires. Jo saw the car a millisecond too late. Henry’s name formed on her lips, ready to warn her best friend of the oncoming car, but the car collided with the medical examiner. His head smacked the pavement. Worry for her best friend outweighed everything. She let go of the suspect and ran to Henry’s side. The handcuffed man stayed still right behind them, too shocked to move.

“Henry?! Henry! Can you hear me?!” Jo was on the pavement by his side at once. She grabbed his head, picking it up and placing it in her lap. His eyes were closed and he had a gash on his forehead. She felt for a pulse and she let out a breath she didn’t even realize she was holding when she found one.

Jo got out her phone and dialed 911. It felt like eternity until the ambulance arrived. Luckily Hanson arrived on the scene at the same time and took their suspect away with a promise to meet them at the hospital as soon as he was done. Jo numbly nodded and got in back of the ambulance with Henry.

~*~

_Click. Click. Click._

The only sound heard in the waiting room was the clicking of Jo’s heels against the floor as she paced.

Hanson sat in one of the chairs, watching her, “Sit down, Jo. Worrying yourself sick isn’t going to help the doc any.”

“I know, but it makes me feel better,” Jo argued. She looked at her watch, “He’s been in there forever.”

“It’s only been a few hours,” Hanson assured her, “We got the guy that was driving drunk who hit him too. You called Henry’s roommate right away and he should be here any time now. Just relax.”

“I should’ve done something. Should’ve done more,” Jo was fighting with herself as she took a seat next to Hanson.

“It was a freak thing, Jo,” Hanson put a hand on her shoulder, “Something like that could’ve happened even if he wasn’t out in the field with you. Don’t go beating yourself up. You can’t control Henry and you can’t control the world.”

“Jo?” Abe came in the waiting room.

“Abe,” Jo got up and gave the older man a hug.

“What happened? What happened to Henry?” Abe kept a hand on Jo’s arm as they came out of the hug.

“We were in pursuit of a suspect. Henry caught him and we were on our way back to my car. Henry was crossing the street and this car came out of nowhere. It hit him and he was knocked unconscious,” Jo explained.

“What do the doctors say?” Abe’s brow furrowed. If Henry’s secret was in danger, it would’ve come to light already. It sounded to him like Henry just got a good whack.

“They haven’t come out to tell us anything yet,” Hanson came up to join them.

A second later, a doctor came up to the trio. She cleared her throat, “Are one of you here for Doctor Morgan?”

“Yes, all of us,” Jo rushed to answer.

“Are any of you family?” the doctor asked.

“Uh, I am,” Abe stepped up, “Or at least the closest thing he’s got to it here… we all are family, really.”

“What’s wrong with Henry?” Jo kept her voice from breaking.

“He’s awake,” the doctor told them with a small smile. Everyone let out a breath of relief as she continued, “But he seems to be suffering from memory loss.”

“Memory loss?” Abe suddenly feared the worst. Did he think it was the 1950s or something? Anything was possible with his father.

“Yes,” the doctor nodded, “When he awoke we asked him basic questions like his name, age, et cetera, but he couldn’t answer them.”

“Does he remember anything at all?” Hanson was concerned.

“Well, the brain is a funny thing,” the doctor responded, “He didn’t know his name, but he was able to tell us how to treat his mild injuries. I think that man is innately a doctor.”

“Injuries?” Jo asked.

“Oh, yes,” the doctor collected herself, “Aside from the head trauma leading to memory loss, Doctor Morgan has a couple of bruised ribs, but not much damage aside from that. He was very lucky. His brain scans all came back normal.”

“Can we see him?” Abe asked.

“Yes, I’ll show you in,” the doctor started to lead the way with Hanson, Jo, and Abe in step. The doctor continued talking, “His memory will return in time. He just needs to be surrounded by familiar faces and things.”

They all were now standing outside Henry’s room. Before she let them in, she turned to everyone, “Does he have any one he can stay with while he recovers?”

“He lives with me,” Abe spoke up, “We’re roommates.”

“Oh good,” the doctor smiled, “Like I was saying, just surround him with familiar things and his memory should return. It will take time though… it could be days, weeks, or even months.”

Abe let out a long sigh. This was going to be interesting. With no memory meant without a doubt his father didn’t know he was his father… or that he was immortal.

“You can go in now,” the doctor opened the door, “Let us know when you’re ready and we’ll get his discharge papers ready.”

One by one, Abe, Jo, and Hanson entered Henry’s room. As they approached Henry, he turned his head toward them, nodding a greeting to the trio. No recognition in his eyes. He had a bandage on his head where the gash was and he was shirtless with bandages wrapped around his torso for his bruised ribs.

The silence was too much for Henry, “Hello.”

“Hi,” Abe let out an awkward greeting and wave, “H-How are you feeling, Henry?”

“Bit of a headache, but nothing too serious,” Henry waved it off, “I’m terribly sorry, but who are you?”

Abe tried not to show the bit of hurt he felt, “I’m Abe…”

Jo continued off Abe’s trail to introduce herself to her best friend. God this was weird, “And I’m Jo and this is Hanson.”

“I’d like to say nice to meet you, but I have a feeling we already know each other,” Henry tried to make light of the situation.

Jo came up closer to the bed, “Yes, uh, you’re our medical examiner down at the eleventh precinct. You and I are partners. I’m a homicide detective and so is Hanson. We all work together on cases.”

“Medical examiner,” Henry looked like he was taking it all in, “Well that explains all this medical knowledge. Funny how I know all that but I didn’t even know my name…”

He turned to look at Abe who was now at the foot of his bed, “And how do we know each other?”

“Huh?” Abe was caught off-guard.

“You and I,” Henry repeated himself, “How do you and I know each other?”

Abe audibly swallowed, looking clearly uncomfortable, “We’re, uh, we’re roommates. I own an antique shop and you live there with me. I can explain more when we get home.”

Henry furrowed his brows at Abe’s answer, but let it go for now, “All right. I should be out of here soon. I thought I heard my doctor say something about discharge papers.”

“Yeah, I’ll go get her for you, doc,” Hanson volunteered.

“I’ll go help,” Jo offered, sensing the need for the two men to be alone for a moment.

Once Jo and Hanson left the room, Abe pulled up a chair next to Henry’s bedside, “You really don’t remember anything, Henry?”

“I wish I could, but I can’t,” Henry looked apologetic. Abe took a moment to take in his father’s appearance. Aside from the bandages, he looked like himself. There was a difference in him though. He looked like the weight of the world no longer rested on his shoulders and there was a bit more life in his eyes than Abe had seen in a very long time.

“Well, we’ll get you out of here and back to the shop,” Abe patted his father’s leg, standing up, “There’s a lot to talk about.”

“Yes, I’m sure there is,” Henry smiled.

_“I just hope he’s not going to think I’m insane when I tell him the truth… or should I even tell him anything? Damn, Henry. Right when I could use your advice, you go and get amnesia on me. I never thought something like this would happen to you.” Abe thought._

~*~

The sun rose in the sky signaling the start to a new day. Henry set himself to make a cup of coffee in the kitchen. He was dressed in his usual attire and yet still felt out of place. When he and Abe (his name was Abe, right?) came home the night previously, it was spent mostly in silence. He sensed that his amnesia was hard on the older man, but he just couldn’t figure out why it seemed to be more of a big deal to Abe than him.

“Did you sleep well?” Abe came into the kitchen.

“As well as can be expected,” Henry replied.

“Listen, Henry, I’m sorry for the awkwardness last night,” Abe apologized, “It’s just you not knowing things… it just is gonna take a little bit of time to get used to.”

“You and me both,” Henry gave him a small smile. Gesturing to the freshly-brewed pot of coffee, Henry held it up, “Can I get you a cup of coffee?”

“That’d be great, thanks,” Abe took the offered cup.

“So, the doctor said I should be doing normal things,” Henry started, “Is this normal? Do we have breakfast and coffee together in the mornings?”

“Yeah, usually,” Abe took a seat across from Henry at the table, “Unless Jo calls with a body.”

“A body?” Henry looked confused.

“You know, a case,” Abe elaborated, “You’re a medical examiner, remember? Sorry, I didn’t mean ‘remember,’ uh, I just meant…”

“I knew what you meant, Abe, thank you,” Henry put his hand up to stop Abe’s rambling, “It is Abe, right?”

“Yes, but most of the time you call me Abraham,” Abe answered.

“How did you say we know each other again? How did we come to be roommates?” Henry took a sip of his coffee.

Abe opened his mouth to answer, a thousand thoughts racing through his mind, but before he could form a word, the phone rang.

_“Saved by the bell,” Abe thought and got up to answer the phone._

After a brief conversion with the person on the other end, Abe held the phone out to Henry, “It’s Jo… It’s for you.”

“Oh,” Henry got up and took the phone, “Hello?”

_“Hi, Henry,” Jo’s voice came from the other end, “I was just calling to see if you were up to coming into work today?”_

“Yes, of course,” Henry nodded, “The more familiar things, the better, right?”

_“Right,” Jo responded, “In fact, I’m downstairs outside the shop right now. I figured you’d need a ride.”_

“Good thinking, Detective,” Henry agreed, “I’ll see you in a minute.”

_“See you,” Jo hung up._

“Jo’s downstairs to give me a ride to work,” Henry said, “I’ll see you later? We can finish our conversation then.”

“Yeah,” Abe nodded, “See you later.”

At his father’s retreating back, Abe let out a sigh. He had all day to figure out what he’d tell him. Whether or not by the end of the conversation, his father would be searching for a psychiatric hospital for him was up for debate.

~*~

“Morning, Doc!” Lucas greeted as Henry and Jo came off the elevator.

“Good morning,” Henry nodded.

“Looks like we don’t have too busy of a morning,” Lucas went in step with Jo and Henry. Jo looked like she wanted to say something, but Lucas kept going, “A few bodies here and there… unless the good detective has something for us?”

“No, Lucas,” Jo shook her head. She put her hand on Henry’s shoulder, “Your office is right over there, Henry… give us a minute.”

“Thank you,” Henry nodded and headed to his office.

Lucas furrowed his brows, “Why are you telling Henry where his office is?”

With all of the chaos the previous day, nobody had a chance to tell Lucas about Henry’s amnesia. Lieutenant Reece knew from when Jo called in and Hanson had dropped off the killer to tie up their last case, but nobody had the chance to let the assistant ME know.

“Henry got into an accident yesterday, Lucas,” Jo began to explain, “Believe it or not, he has amnesia.”

“Oh my God,” Lucas’ eyes widened, “Is he okay?”

“Bump on the head and a few bruised ribs, but he lost his memory,” Jo said.

Lucas lifted himself up on his tiptoes to peer into Henry’s office. He was now sitting at his desk, looking through his things to see if he could spark some memories. Now Lucas noticed the small bandage on his boss’ head and the slower movements from his tender ribs.

“He doesn’t know anything?” Lucas brought his attention back to Jo.

“He knows he’s a doctor,” Jo supplied, “But he didn’t even know his own name or who any of us were. His doctor said his memory will come back eventually, but to give it time. I brought him to work because he needs to be surrounded by familiar things. Luckily there haven’t been any bodies dropped this morning and you said it was a slow day. Maybe it’s just what he needs today.”

“Yeah,” Lucas nodded.

“You’ll look out for him down here today?” Jo knew she didn’t need to ask, but needed to reassure herself.

“Of course I’ll look out for him,” Lucas almost looked offended at the notion that he wouldn’t, “He’s Henry… he’ll be back to his old self in no time.”

“I hope so,” Jo sighed and patted Lucas’ shoulder, “See you later, Lucas.”

“See you later,” Lucas echoed as Jo headed back to the elevators and out of the morgue. Lucas steeled himself and headed for his boss’ office. Knocking, he poked his head in, “Hey, Doc… Detective Martinez told me what happened.”

“Yes,” Henry stood up, “I’m sorry… I might not be a huge help today.”

“You’ll be awesome as always,” Lucas assured him.

“It’s nice to know that I have friends down here,” Henry smiled, “Uh, I’m sorry… what was your name?”

“Lucas,” Lucas stuck out his hand.

“Nice to meet you, Lucas,” Henry shook his hand.

“God, this is so weird,” Lucas blurted.

“Don’t need to tell me twice,” Henry agreed.

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it,” Lucas backpedaled, “I just meant…”

“No need to apologize, Lucas,” Henry stopped him from rambling. He seemed to be doing that a lot since his memory loss. Were people that nervous around him? “Just show me what we do down here and we can get started on some work.”

“Okay,” Lucas smiled, “Come on, Doc, we only have a few bodies this morning.”

~*~

“You think the doc is okay to be back at work so soon?” Hanson asked when Jo sat across from him at her desk.

“He’ll be fine,” Jo said, “His doctor said he needed to do normal things. As weird as it is, normal things for Henry is dead bodies.”

~*~

“Two bodies down… one to go,” Lucas announced jovially, “Told you we had a light load today, Doc.”

“Yes,” Henry smiled as he snapped on fresh gloves, “It’s just like riding a bike.”

“Yeah, I guess you never forget being a doctor, eh?” Lucas got the next body ready for Henry.

“I suppose it’s in my DNA,” Henry agreed. All of a sudden, Henry put a hand to his head. He shut his eyes as a memory came flooding back to him.

~*~

**1915**

“You’re incredible, Henry,” James shook his head in disbelief.

“Yes, I know,” Henry grinned, “What for this time?”

“Your gift for instant diagnosis,” James clarified, “Back there… I don’t think you missed a single patient. You diagnosed what each of them had in under a minute.”

“I’ve been a doctor for a while,” Henry replied as they exited the hospital.

“Sometimes I think you must’ve been born a doctor,” James shook his head.

“Perhaps it’s in my bones,” Henry surmised.

“Please teach me your ways,” James patted his back with a laugh.

“If it’s one thing I have, James, it’s time,” Henry remarked.

“Could you start now?” James was only half-teasing.

“Maybe tomorrow,” Henry parted ways with his friend, “I’ll see you later, James.”

“Until tomorrow, Henry,” James nodded a goodbye.

~*~

“Henry?” Lucas’ voice came through, merging from James’ in the past to the present, “Henry, are you okay?”

“I, uh,” Henry didn’t know what to make of what he just saw. That couldn’t be a memory. His surroundings and his companion’s clothes looked like something from the early twentieth century. That was impossible.

“You okay, Doc?” Lucas grew more concerned at Henry’s silence.

“Would you mind terribly finishing up here, Lucas?” Henry composed himself, “I have a strong headache coming on.”

“Yeah… sure, no problem,” Lucas assured him as he watched Henry’s retreating back heading to the elevators after he snapped off his gloves.

The elevator doors closed. Henry started to sweat. What could what he just saw mean? Perhaps him and his friend were reenacting something? But why would the world around him look like it was from another era too? Maybe Jo would know something.

“Henry?” Jo sat up in her chair when she saw him approach, “You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Might I have a word in private?” Henry’s eyes practically pleaded with her. Hanson got the hint and excused himself. Jo led Henry to the break room.

“What’s wrong?” Jo folded her arms, ready to listen.

“I think I might have just had a memory,” Henry began.

“That’s great!” Jo immediately perked up.

“But it doesn’t make any sense,” Henry shook his head.

“Henry, I might not be the best person to talk to about your memories,” Jo told him, “We’ve only known each other for a couple of months.”

“Months, years, I don’t think this matters,” Henry shook his head, “This memory just didn’t make any sense… it looked like something from the early 1900s.”

“What?” Jo furrowed her brows in confusion along with Henry, “Tell me about it.”

“Lucas was just making conversation about how even with my memory loss, I’m a natural at being a doctor,” Henry began, “And I don’t know what happened, it’s like all of a sudden, I started to remember a similar situation with someone else… but the buildings, our clothes… they all looked like we were in the early 1900s. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say somewhere around 1910 or 1915.”

“Henry, that’s impossible,” Jo shook her head.

“I know,” Henry looked scared, “So what does this mean?”

“I’ll ask Reece if I can get a personal day,” Jo led him out of the break room, “You wait by my desk and we’ll get you home. Maybe Abe can shed some light on what’s going on.”

“I can’t ask you to take a day off for me,” Henry objected.

“Henry, you’re my best friend,” Jo stated, “This is non-negotiable.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Nope, I still don't own Forever. So I caved and decided to post the concluding half of this story now instead of this weekend. I don't think you guys mind, right? ;) I hope you enjoy!!

Jo told Reece that Henry was having severe headaches and she was going to take him home as well as take a personal day. There wasn’t much work to do for her anyway until another body dropped. She and Hanson had practically finished all their paperwork for the last few cases. Reece practically pushed Jo out the door to go take care of her partner. Now she and Henry were in Jo’s car heading home to get some answers.

“What do you think it could possibly mean?” Henry stared out the window at the passing scenery.

“I don’t know, Henry,” Jo shook her head, “Maybe something’s getting jumbled up in that brain of yours… You are a big history buff. It could be that you were remembering a conversation you had with a coworker of yours when you were a practicing physician and some wires got crossed so things looked to be like you were in another era.”

“That sounds plausible,” Henry seemed to relax a little.

“Maybe that’s it,” Jo said, “But I still think we should get you home… it was too soon for you to get back to work. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, Jo,” Henry replied, “I couldn’t stay home. I needed to be doing something and I actually enjoyed the work Lucas and I did before this strange memory popped in my head.”

“You just sit there and relax,” Jo briefly looked at Henry and then back on the road, “We’re almost home.”

_Home? Since when did she call Henry’s home ‘home’? Jo gave herself a mental shake. She could sort out those thoughts later. Right now Henry needed her to be there for him._

“Thank you for believing me,” Henry’s voice almost broke.

“I’ll always believe you, Henry,” Jo promised. Henry smiled at his partner. Once again a small pounding drummed in his head and he closed his eyes as another memory came over him.

~*~

**1815**

“Nora, I can’t tell you how much of a relief it is that you believe me,” Henry held his wife’s hands.

“Of course, darling,” Nora gave him a half-smile that vanished quickly as she kept looking from Henry to the door.

“Is there something wrong?” Henry picked up on her distractedness.

“No,” Nora shook her head, “Nothing’s wrong, Henry.”

A knock sounded on the door. Henry furrowed his brows; not quite accepting what Nora said was true, but turned to answer the door. A man with a top hat and a silver mustache greeted him, “Doctor Henry Morgan?”

“Yes?” Henry was confused as the man stepped inside and stood next to his wife, “What’s going on?”

“He’s going to take you somewhere where you can get better, darling,” Nora grabbed her pink shawl closer to herself.

“Better? What are you talking about?” Henry didn’t understand what was going on. Suddenly, two men appeared behind Henry and seized him as they wrapped a straightjacket on him and forced it on to him.

~*~

“Henry?” Jo shook his shoulder, “Henry, we’re here. Are you okay?”

Henry’s eyes shot open like he was electrocuted by Jo’s touch. He looked around frantically until his gaze landed on his partner and he immediately settled down.

“Did you just have another strange memory?” Jo gathered.

“This one was even further back,” Henry started, “The early 1800s… there was a woman there. I think she was my wife.”

“Abigail?” Jo tried.

“No,” Henry shook his head, “No, her name was Nora… I trusted her and she betrayed my trust. I told her something. I can’t remember what it was, but the feeling is there. I trusted her with something and she said she believed me. Then these men came and carted me off in a straightjacket.”

Jo’s concerned look never left her face as she had her hand on Henry’s arm as he told her his tale, “Let’s go inside… something’s going on here. Hopefully Abe can clear things up.”

Slowly, Henry unbuckled his seatbelt and they both headed into the shop. Luckily Abe was in front and saw the two of them approach. He quickly opened the door for them, “Is everything all right, Detective?”

“Not really, Abe,” Jo’s arm hadn’t left Henry since they got out of the car. She had her arm wrapped around his torso as she led him in the store.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Abe gestured to their apartment, “I’ll meet you up there.”

Abe watched his father and Jo head up the stairs. He locked the door and flipped the open sign to closed. He let out a long sigh. He had the sinking feeling that there was going to be a lot to talk about and most of the weight of the truth was going to land on his shoulders.

Henry settled himself on the couch, Jo right at his side. They left the adjacent chair open for Abe to take. The three of them sat in silence for a moment before Abe broke it, “Tell me what happened.”

Jo gave Henry a silent nod, giving him a boost of confidence to share what was happening, “I’ve been having these strange memories that don’t make any sense. They’re impossible.”

Abe braced himself. Looks like Henry’s secret was about to be revealed, “What were the memories?”

“They both looked like something right out of a history book,” Henry told him, “The first one appeared to be what looked like the early 1900s and the second from the early 1800s. It doesn’t make any sense. Do you know what’s going on?”

_“Sorry, Pops, looks like your secret’s out to Jo,” Abe thought._

“They were real, Henry,” Abe declared.

“How could they be real?” Henry and Jo asked in unison.

“This is going to sound completely insane,” Abe started, “You’re immortal, Henry. You were having memories from those time periods because you were alive then.”

“Immortal?” Henry looked at Abe like he had just grown another head, “That’s pure fantasy.”

“For you it’s reality, Henry,” Abe said.

“No,” Henry shook his head, “No, you’re wrong.”

Abe looked to Jo to see if she could gauge her reaction. As Henry was denying the truth and got up to start pacing the room, memories of Jo’s own started to flood her mind of past cases with Henry.

~*~

_Henry and Jo just stepped out of Jo’s car to see Professor Browning’s wife on their jumper case. Henry put his hands in his pockets, looking around, “You know until recently, this area used to be all farmland.”_

_“Recently?” Jo started up the steps, “These brownstones have been around long before you and I.”_

~*~

_They started down the street, talking briefly about the murder of the boxer. Jo turned to her partner, “When I first started on the job, there was a murder a week here.”_

_“Should’ve seen it in the eighties,” Henry replied and felt the need to correct himself, “1980s.”_

~*~

_Jo and Henry stood over the body of Mary Kelley in the morgue, working on their Jack the Ripper copycat case. Henry seemed excited, “I’ve been comparing the body to the original crime notes on the case.”_

_Jo’s face was one of complete disbelief, “I’m sorry. You just happen to have a copy of the original crime notes?”_

~*~

_Henry just joked he was really ‘Hank Morgan from Ohio’ after their case on the murdered con artist. Jo laughed, “No, your brand of eccentricity would take years to perfect.”_

_“How about centuries?” Henry flagged down a cab with a smirk adorned on his lips._

~*~

_After Henry used a phrase in Russian to offer his condolences to the widow of the late King of Urkesh, Jo couldn’t help but marvel at Henry’s knowledge, “I don’t get it, Henry. A person would have to live ten lives to pick up everything you have.”_

_“Or just one very long one,” Henry sighed._

~*~

“Jo?” Henry brought Jo back to the present, “Do you think I’m immortal?”

“I don’t know what to think,” Jo admitted. She stood up, “I was just thinking about some of the things you’ve said to me in the past. They never really made much sense, but as crazy as it sounds, if you were immortal, that would actually explain a few things.”

“I don’t believe this,” Henry refused to believe the truth, letting out an exasperated sigh.

“You _are_ immortal, Henry,” Abe continued to try to convince his father of the truth, “You were born in 1779 for crying out loud. You died for the first time in 1814.”

“No,” Henry shook his head.

Partially ignoring Jo’s shocked look, Abe went on, “You’re my father.”

“What?” Henry breathed.

“You’re my father,” Abe stepped up closer to him, “You and mom found me as a baby in 1945 after the liberation of the camps during the Holocaust. You raised me. You’re my Pops.”

Henry put a hand to his head. His heart was starting to believe but his head refused to give in to this madness.

“You’re Henry’s son?” Jo couldn’t quite believe it herself.

“Yeah,” Abe admitted, “You know, I’ve been telling Henry for months that he should let you in on the truth… after everything the two of you have been through and how close you’ve gotten. This would’ve been a hell of a lot easier if you knew the truth already.”

“Immortal,” Jo said the word like it was completely foreign to her, “It’s unbelievable.”

“But you believe it?” Henry looked to Jo for guidance, “You believe that I can’t die? That I’m over two hundred years old?”

“I don’t know what to believe to be honest, Henry,” Jo confessed, “But I know that Abe wouldn’t make something like this up if it weren’t true. And it would explain your weird out-of-date memories.”

“This is crazy,” Henry slowly sat down on the couch. Jo took a seat next to him and Abe sat on his other side.

“If there’s one thing you’re not, it’s crazy,” Abe said.

“So…” Henry breathed, “How does this work? Clearly I can get hurt… I just can’t die?”

“I don’t know the logistics of it,” Abe replied, “Neither do you really. But from what I’ve seen. When you die, your body disappears and you reawaken in a large body of water absolutely naked; since we’ve been in New York, that’s been the East River.”

“Wait, so all those public indecency charges and that time a little while back during the Clark Walker case, Henry died?” Jo was starting to accept the truth.

“Yeah,” Abe confirmed.

“I reawaken?” Henry furrowed his brows, “That sounds weird… wouldn’t it be a rebirth?”

“You said you weren’t comfortable calling them that,” Abe grinned.

“Do you think it could reset my memory?” Henry looked a little hopeful.

“Henry,” Abe knew where he was going with that line of thought, “Neither of us know how your immortality truly works. Your body resets but it’s not like every time you come back you think it’s 1814 again. If you die and come back, you might still have amnesia.”

“Do you think it’s worth a try?” Henry looked a little desperate and then tried to make a joke, “And if I’m not immortal, at least I won’t have to worry about amnesia anymore.”

“Not funny, Henry,” Jo reprimanded him with a small smack to his arm.

“Maybe we should stick with the non-lethal option,” Abe suggested, “We’ve got some old pictures locked away that we can look through. Maybe it will spark enough memories it’ll get you your full memory back.”

“Worth a shot,” Jo shrugged and looked to Henry to make the decision unanimous.

“All right,” Henry nodded. Abe smiled and got up to get the family album.

~*~

Jo and Henry sat comfortably in silence. Abe came back with a few albums and handed them to Henry. He took his seat next to his father and motioned for him to open it. The first picture was Henry and Abigail’s wedding picture.

“Abigail?” Henry started to remember.

“You remember her?” Abe asked.

“I… I think so. Maybe a little,” Henry looked a little uncertain, “Jo mentioned the name Abigail before.”

“She’s beautiful,” Jo smiled.

“My mom,” Abe beamed.

“What happened to her?” Henry looked to his son.

“Uh,” Abe stilled, “Let’s keep going… maybe spark some other memories.”

Henry nodded. Clearly whatever happened to Abigail was a sore spot. Maybe he was better off not remembering. Turning the page, they were greeted with a smiling baby Abraham in the arms of Henry.

“That’s me,” Abe poked the picture, “A great looking baby if I do say so myself.”

“This is so weird,” Jo put a hand on the picture. Meeting Abe’s eyes, she felt the need to explain herself, “Not you, Abe. I just meant… these pictures are from such a long time ago and Henry looks exactly the same.”

“He’s got good genes,” Abe winked.

Flipping through more pictures, they landed on a picture of a young Abe on Henry’s shoulders. Henry immediately perked up, “Wait a minute! I think I remember this… wasn’t this after our day in the park? You wouldn’t stop asking for ice cream? And finally Abigail relented and got you one?”

“Almost,” Abe smiled, “You’re the one who caved… Mom took the picture. You’re remembering, Henry.”

Jo looked on at father and son. How could she never have seen the connection before? They were always comfortable around each other and just had this air to them. Part of her always thought they were related: father and son. Never in a million years would she ever have thought that _Henry_ was the father.

The trio looked through the albums long into the night. After about midnight, Abe excused himself to retire to bed. Henry and Jo continued to flip through the pages. With each passing page, Henry seemed to remember more and more. His eyes lit up when talking about his family. Henry wasn’t in some of the pictures as the years went by – most likely because he continued to look the same as his family grew older.

Eventually, Jo’s head settled on Henry’s shoulder as he jovially went on through the albums as memories flooded back to him. Tiredness got the better of them and soon they were both asleep. Henry’s arm was wrapped around Jo, her head resting on his chest. Morning came as Abe quietly came up to his father and Jo. He smiled at the sight in front of him. The detective was so good for him and Henry for her. He quickly took a picture of the two of them asleep with an old Polaroid camera.

He set the developing picture down on the closed album on the coffee table in front of the sleeping duo. Deciding to let them sleep, he made his way back into his own room.

Henry’s eyelids fluttered open as the morning’s light beamed into the room. An unfamiliar but welcome weight on his chest had him looking down at his still slumbering partner. A small smile graced his lips. He remembered. Everything. Sifting through the family album Abe had brought down worked like a charm.

Jo knew about him. She knew about his immortality and she didn’t run. Of all the ways he ever pictured telling Jo his secret, through amnesia was not one of them. Henry tried to sit up without disturbing his partner, but to no avail.

“Sorry,” Jo apologized as she sat up off of his chest. She had a bit of drool pooled on Henry’s shirt.

“It’s all right,” Henry replied, “I’ve had far worse on me when Abe was a baby.”

“So I didn’t dream it, huh?” Jo fixed her hair, still a little sleepy.

“No, you didn’t dream it,” Henry shook his head. Despite her presence, he still couldn’t help but ask, “You still believe me?”

“I’ll always believe you,” Jo affirmed, “Did last night help your memories at all?”

“Yes actually,” Henry smiled, “I believe I have my full memories back… all two hundred and thirty five years of them.”

“So weird,” Jo shook her head with an amused smile.

Henry went to grab the album to put it back up when he noticed the new picture sitting on top of it, “What’s this?”

Jo sat forward to see what was in Henry’s hand. It was them asleep in each other’s arms not a moment before.

“Abe must’ve snapped this before we woke up,” Henry deduced. He flipped open the album and settled on the last open page.

“What are you doing?” Jo asked.

“Putting this new memory with my old ones,” Henry placed the picture in the album. He held it up in admiration, “A perfect fit.”

“You truly are a strange one, Henry,” Jo smiled as Henry closed the album. They both stood up, “Now that you remember everything, I’m looking forward to your whole story.”

“It’s a long one,” Henry replied.

“I’ve got time,” Jo smiled as she brushed a stray hair behind her ear.

“Thank you,” Henry felt the need to say.

“For what?” Jo tilted her head.

“For not running, for staying, for believing me and trusting me,” Henry came up to her. Letting out a small breath, he gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek, “For being you.”

“Forever,” Jo beamed.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, so that's a wrap. This one was quite a bit longer than my other Forever stories; hence why I split it up into two chapters. The Castle/Caskett fan in me was tempted to write 'Always' there at the end, but I think Henry and Jo's word should be 'Forever.' Don't you? Let me know what you think. Mortinez Forever (pun intended). :)

**Author's Note:**

> So? What do you guys think? There aren't many 'amnesia' stories in this fandom yet. I figured I'd take a stab at it. There's just the second part to this left. I'll probably post it next weekend - give you guys time to soak this part in. ;) Let me know what you think! I hope you guys like it so far. :D I love you all!!


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